Final Fantasy VI: Requiem of Magic
by Darth Odin
Summary: When the empire rediscovered the secrets of magic no one could have envisioned the far reaching effects it had on the world. Now with world spiraling towards a second war of Magi a small band of unlikely allies are all that stands in the way of humanity repeating the same tragic mistakes that devastated the world a millennium ago.


Disclaimer: I do not own Final fantasy VI or any of its related media, but then again we already knew that.

Requiem of magic

Pain. That was the first thing her mind registered as she slowly began to regain consciousness. Her entire body ached with such a sharp throbbing intensity that it felt as if she very well may have been set aflame. After a few agonizing moments the dizzying one haze that gripped her mind began to subside and her thoughts began to flow clearly again. With no small degree of effort she managed to peel her eyes open to see where she was only to immediately regret it. The light was foreign and painful to her eyes forcing them closed almost as soon as they opened. When enough time had passed for her eyes to adjust to the light she looked around only to be met by an unfamiliar terrain. She appeared to be a cabin of some sort if the timber walls were any indication, but beyond that there was no further indication of where she was. The room she was in was sparse but the entire place had this homey feel that seemed to put her weary mind at ease. She was currently in a small bed near the center of the room, the mattress was well worn but comfortable and she was covered in a rather thick soft blanket.

As much as she wanted to sit up her body simply refused to respond to her commands. Even the slightest motion was enough send fresh waves of white hot pain racing through her slight frame. Seeing as she was in no condition to be moving about anyway she was content sit back and let her body recover. Having the time to sit and gather her thoughts made her distinctly aware of how sore and raw her throat in particular was. She had the vaguest recollection of screaming but when she tried to think any further than that a sharp pain tore through her skull. With a whimper she decided it was best not to dwell upon it as a throbbing headache blossomed to life behind her eyes. As she laid her head back on her pillow she spied a rather tall and inviting glass of water out of the corner of her eye. The glass had a small ring of water around the base indicating whoever had rescued her had left it there some time ago in case she woke up. For the first time she glanced at her reflection in the glasses surface but the reflection staring back at her seemed strange and almost foreign to her. Confused purple eyes stared back at her under a tangled mess of long vibrant emerald locks, her cheeks were flushed a furious shade of scarlet with several strands of hair pasted to her sweat soaked face.

All further thought of her appearance were pushed aside as she was painfully aware of the aching sense of thirst. Almost as if on instinct her hand shot out seizing the glass despite the fresh waves of pain shooting down her arm. Ignoring her bodies protesting she managed to prop herself up on her elbow to at least drink properly. Desperate for relief she guzzled the life bringing water down so quickly she nearly choked spluttering water across the bed and coughing loudly. A soft grunt could be heard in the next room and a chair could be heard scraping backwards across the wooded floor. Soft footsteps approached the door and soon a kindly old man peeked into the room. She squeaked softly under the man's piercing gaze but after a brief moment he smiled.

"Ah I see your finally awake, how are you feeling?" his tone was light and there was a genuine note of compassion and concern in his voice as he crossed the room towards her. Still in a state of half shock it took a moment for her to find her voice before answering.

"I-I'm fine" she said shakily still trying to figure out who this man was. Her voice was scratchy and raw as if from disuse, but in spite of all that it still managed to retain a soft and feminine tone.

"That's good you've been out for quite some time. Here let me help you." he gently took the glass from and helped her up into a sitting position. Taking the pillow he propped it up behind her and held the glass of water up to her lips.

"Here drink slowly, too much and you'll choke again." She nodded slowly and took a few gulps of the refreshing liquid. "There better?" Only when she nodded her head did he set the glass back on the table. For a moment she simply closed her eyes trying to dispel the light headed feeling from sitting up to fast. She had a thousand questions for the kindly man who was helping but she had absolutely no idea where to begin. She opened her eyes again and for the first time he noticed the amethyst color of her eyes, for the briefest moment a look of shock flashed across but it was only that for a second later it was gone. For the young woman it was more than enough though, it seemed it was as abnormal as she feared after all. Still she forged on asking the most pressing question on her mind.

"Where am I?" she managed to croak out.

"You're in the village Narshe a small town in the mountains north of the Figaro." The way he said Figaro she figured that was supposed to mean something to her but when she tried to think of anything her head began pounding again. She leaned back against the pillow and closed her eyes once more.

"Head hurts" she mumbled trying her best to ignore the rhythmic pounding. The man nodded in understanding.

"That's understandable given what you've been through." That statement alone forced her to open her eyes once more. Something in his voice said there was much more going on here than he was saying. The man seemed to notice her expression as well for he quickly changed the subject. "At any rate my name is Arvis, what is your name?" It was a simple enough question and it should have been meet with a simple enough answer, but when she searched for a name to give she came up with nothing. A cold sense of panic began to creep up her spine, she had been too busy earlier just trying to stay conscious but now that she thought about she couldn't remember her name. Not only that but the more she searched her memory banks the less she seemed to find. She couldn't seem to recall anything where she was from, how she got here, even how old she was a complete and utter mystery to her.

"I-I don't know I can't remember, I can't remember anything!" Her voice rose sharply close to hysterics as she looked to the man pleading for him to understand. To her immense relief a flash of understanding and sympathy worked its way across his face.

"Ah amnesia, that's to be expected given the circumstances. To be honest I amazed you've regained consciousness so quickly." There it was again that underlying tone in his voice that spoke of a much deeper situation than she was aware of. The profound look of pain and grief behind his eyes made her dread to ask her next question.

"Arvis did something happen?" she asked barley above a whisper. Arvis's entire body stiffened so she knew he heard her but he didn't say anything for a long time, to long of a time actually.

"Arvis?" she asked again slightly louder with a trace of fear creeping into her voice. He seemed to snap out of his thoughts and looked at her long and hard. There was an emotion on his face that she couldn't quite place, but it did little to put her at ease. Finally after an extended period of silence he spoke again.

"It was the Empire" He began his words coming across short and clipped. "They attacked without warning and we lost a lot of good men tonight." She gasped horrified by the revelation, but Arvis continued on. "Narshe has always considered itself a neutral territory and we went to great lengths to keep it that way. For a time we managed to live a relatively peaceful life without fear from the empires rule, but looking back on it we should have known it was only a matter of time until something like this happened." At that last part a note of undisguised bitterness and contempt crept into his voice. "Like I said we managed to keep a relatively peaceful coexistence with the empire, but that all changed when some of our men found that esper in the mines."

Once again he said the word esper like it was supposed to be common knowledge to her. She shot him a hopelessly confused and pleading look. Arvis seemed to notice this immediately for he stopped short and smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry I forgot about your memory problems." He placed a comforting hand on her own which were folded in her lap and smiled. "Don't you worry about that I'm sure your memories will return in time." She seemed to take solace in this and he could practically feel the relief course through her small frame.

"Anyway an esper is a creature of legend and a remnant from the age magic. These creatures were said to possess immense magical power and were both respected and feared by those around them. All around the world people have heard tales of the espers might and the legends surrounding them. It is said that long ago espers and humans lived side by side in harmony. Yet in time the humans whom had once respected and revered the espers began to fear them. You have to understand espers were immortal god like beings of pure magic who were capable of bending the very forces of nature to their whims. In the face of such overwhelming power the frail and powerless humans could do naught but tremble at their might. In time that fear turned into resentment and that resentment inevitably blossomed into hate. Humans began to covet what the espers had; they began to crave the kind power of the espers possessed. Even today no one knows how they did it but humans eventually found a way to take the espers considerable power and make it their own. Armed with their new found power the humans turned against the espers igniting the conflict that would eventually come to be known as the war of the magi. The war devastated the land and altered the very face of the earth. Entire mountains were reduced to rubble, the seas turned putrid and once fertile lands were reduced to nothing but a barren and lifeless wasteland. Such was the power the two forces levied against one another. The conflict went on for decades and when the bloody war finally drew to a close it saw the espers and magic itself vanish from this world entirely. In the thousand years since the wars end no one has seen any trace of the espers and they were truly believed to be gone forever." He paused for a short moment as if contemplating what to say next before he spoke again.

"At least that what we all thought. That all changed when the empire somehow rediscovered the secrets to magic a few years ago. With this new knowledge the empire wasted little time expanding their territory into new lands. With magic on their side and their already impressive military power there was little the other countries could do in the face of their attacks. That being said even with the empire's rediscovery of magic the esper we found in our mines was the first one to appear since the war of the magi. As you can imagine the empire would never dream of passing up such an opportunity and demanded we hand the esper over to them. Naturally we refused to hand it over arguing that it was found in Narshe territory and the empire had no claim to our lands. Of course the empire didn't take to kindly to that and no less than a week after we denied them, they attacked us."

Once again he lapsed into a somber silence and this time she made no attempt to restart the conversation. Instead she turned to her own thoughts trying to make sense of everything he had told her up to this point. From what she gathered the empire was bad news no matter how you looked at it, but there was one thing in particular that bothered her. She couldn't explain why or how she knew but she had a sneaking suspicion that her arrival in this town and the timing of the empires attack were more than simple coincidence.

"Um Arvis do you know how I got here, or what happened to me?" The old man practically jumped in his seat as if the question itself burned him. His gaze seemed to rest anywhere in the room but on her, only serving to further unnerve her. His expression was conflicted and he appeared to be torn about something although what exactly she couldn't say. Finally with a weary sigh he turned his attention towards her his expression somber.

"Before I start I want to tell you that I don't blame you for happened and you shouldn't either." His voice came across slow and deliberate choosing each of his words carefully. The cold sense of dread that had building in her stomach coiled up twisting and binding itself around her heart the more he spoke.

"Did I do something?" she asked dreading the answer she would get. Her heart was thundering in her chest as she waited for his answer. Whatever he wasn't telling her was obviously something bad if he was having this much trouble just trying to explain to her what happened. Arvis for his part seemed equally unwilling to answer her question as well.

"Well yes, but it wasn't your fault! It was the empire they were using you to attack the village, there was nothing you could have done about it." He finished almost as if he was trying to convince himself as much as he was her. For her part the revelation seemed to pierce straight through her heart. It felt as if he blood had turned to ice. She had feared she had some connection with the empires attack but she had hoped above all else that her suspicions were unfounded. Fearfully she looked up towards Arvis and despite the kind and forgiving look in his eyes she found herself backing away from him.

"W-Why can't I remember anything then?" She muttered unable to look at the kind old man anymore. Arvis moved to put a hand on her shoulder but stopped short and sighed loudly.

"I think you need to see this before I continue." he said abruptly getting up a leaving the room in a rush. He returned sometime later carrying a gold piece of jewelry in his hands. For all intents and purposes it looked to be a fairly simple golden circlet; the only real outstanding thing about it was the small ruby hanging from a small chain on the front. He sat back down in his chair but kept the circlet firmly in his hand as if he was afraid to bring it any closer to her.

"Do you remember anything about this at all" He asked motioning to the crown in his hands, his eyes were searching her face intensely while she thought back. As much as she wanted to there was simply nothing that came to mind no matter how hard she thought. Sadly she shook her head in the negative still unable to meet his gaze head on. He nodded in understanding flipping the crown over so she could see the small wires and pins along the inner rim.

"This is a slave crown one of the empires most insidious inventions. It completely robs the wearer of all free will and makes them totally obedient to whoever controls it. You had this on when I found you in the mines but it looks like…."

Whatever he said after that the she never heard. A thousand images danced unbidden through her mind flashing by so fast they began to merge together in a single blinding blur. She clutched her head moaning in agony desperately trying to hem the influx of painful images but nothing seemed to be working. She envisioned herself controlling a hulking mechanical behemoth as it skulked through the ice and snow towards an unsuspecting village bellow. The image switched to the same town now besieged by chaos and destruction. Frenzied screams of anguish and terror cut through the night air like a blade as the mechanical beasts and their pilots laid waste to the town. Soldiers dressed in the warrior garb of their homeland rushed forward to defend their homes only to be mercilessly cut down by a concentrated blast of white hot fire spewed from the armored tanks maw. The two men beside her cackled and sneered as they cut a bloody swath of destruction through what little resistance the townspeople could amass against them.

"No make it stop!" she cried squeezing her eyes shut as fresh tears streamed from her eyes. She gripped and tore at her hair to dispel the chaotic images but even despite the pain her tortured memories continued. Despite the seemingly random and chaotic swirl images and sounds there was one constant that stood out above all others. A piercing sound which could be described as a demented and deranged cackle tore through her mind like a blade. It started out low barely audible above the sounds of her own tortured memories, but as more and more images came to the forefront it only grew louder. She wasn't sure why but there was something about that laugh and its chilling blend of madness and malice that sent a streak of pure terror racing down her spine.

She began thrashing wildly in an attempt to flee from the oppressive sound. Her battered body protested against the sudden motion but she didn't care, she had to get away before the voice found her again. Arvis seeing her frenzied state tried to hold her still lest she do more damage to herself, but the terrified young woman would not be pacified. She thrashed wildly against his grip despite the soothing words he spoke to calm her down. In the dim confusion of her frenzied panic she was vaguely aware of her fist hitting something solid. There was a surprised cry of pain followed by a loud crash as something large fell to the floor.

Whatever it was it seemed to dispel whatever hold those chilling visions had on her mind. Slowly her senses returned to normal her head still spinning from the ordeal. She glanced around blearily trying to find what it was she struck only to gasp in horror as her eyes fell upon her target. Arvis lay on the ground clutching his face where her fist had struck him. To the young woman time seemed to slow to a stop, the old man had been nothing but kind and nurturing to her and she repaid him by striking him. Disregarding her own body's protest she flung herself from the bed and rushed to his side only vaguely aware of the unique red dress she was garbed in. Arvis glanced up at her and smile softly through a wince of pain. The place where she struck was already starting to purple and bruise.

"Oh no I am so so sorry!" she pleaded hysterically helping the older man up to a sitting position. She'd fully expected the old man to be angry with her but to her immense surprise he only smiled at her. "That's quite alright my girl, I'm just glad your back to normal." he then chuckled softly "Although I must admit you have one heck of a right hook."

"But I…." she began only to be stopped when Arvis put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, if anything I should be apologizing to you. I never should have showed you the crown so soon after losing your memories. I hope you can forgive me for putting you through that." The gentle tone and sincerity in his voice was too much for her and she broke down into tears.

"Don't you hate me" she sobbed moving back from him. "After all I've done how can you still even look at me! She squeezed her eyes shut not even trying to stem the flow of hot tears when she felt something warm embrace her. Her eyes flew open in surprise to find Arvis gently holding her sobbing form. He made a series of soothing sounds rubbing his hand along her back to calm her. For a moment neither of them said anything the young woman simply taking solace in is presence. When he was reasonably satisfied she had calmed down her spoke again.

"There is no way I could ever hate you for something you had no control over. The empire is the one responsible for what happened here today no one else, don't ever forget that." He pulled back slightly smiling warmly and wiped some of her tears away with his thumb. Now that the adrenaline was finally beginning to wear off the young woman was becoming increasingly aware of the blistering pain shooting throughout her entire body. Arvis seemed to notice this as well for he wordlessly scooped her small frame up in his arms electing a surprised squeak from the girl.

"It's still a little too early for you to be moving around so much" he said with an amused twinkle in his eye. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment but she nodded none the less. As Arvis moved back towards the bed he marveled at how frail and light she seemed. It was also the first time he truly noticed how young she was, she couldn't be any older than eighteen at most. "She's just a child." He thought solemnly as he helped her into bed. As he pulled the sheets up over her she genuinely smiled up at him.

"Arvis." She called as he turned to leave the room. "Thank you." She wished she could properly convey how grateful she was to the man for taking her in, but she was at a loss for words. He seemed to understand the words true meaning for he beamed at her. As he turned to leave once more she lamented her lack of any real memories. He had done so much for her and she didn't even have a name to give him in return. Suddenly her mind was ablaze and a single word seemed to dominate her thoughts.

"Terra… I am Terra?" she muttered softly more so to herself than to him. Arvis stopped short and glanced back at her over his shoulder.

"Did you say something?"

"My name." She said louder this time with more confidence. "It's Terra" Arvis stopped short silently amazed at how quickly she was recovering. He had heard stories of people who went weeks before even remembering their names after removing a slave crown. Outwardly however he only smiled and turned fully towards her.

"It's a beautiful name." He said honestly. She smiled as her cheeks flushed pink again more pleased by his compliment than she was willing to admit.

"You should get some rest we'll speak more tomorrow." He said gently as he walked towards the door. She supposed she should be more wary especially considering the circumstances that led her to this town. But around Arvis she felt couldn't help but feel ease and soon she was fast asleep.

Arvis smiled at her peaceful sleeping form silently wondering how long things could stay like this. The guards were certain to find out he was keeping her here it was just a matter of how long. The people of Narshe needed something to take out their pain and rage on, and slave crown or no Terra would make a perfect outlet for their frustrations. No he needed to get her out of Narshe as soon as possible and he knew just the man to help him in than endeavor. As fate would have it he happened to be on his towards Narshe at this very moment to help with another matter concerning their mutual allies.

"Hopefully he shouldn't be too far away now" he mused silently planning to write him as soon as possible. He took one more glance at his guests sleeping form and spoke softly before he left to begin his letter.

"Sleep well, Terra."

So what do you think? Good or bad I want to know how you felt about it. Part of the reason why I post to the site is not only for my own personal enjoyment but to improve my writing skills. Any and all reviews are welcome.


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